Steel wool and soap cleaning pad



"G[. M; RICKETTS STEEL wool; AND SOAP CLEANING PAD Filed Dec. 5, 1950 INVENTOR,

Patented Oct. 23, 1934 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to the improvement of steel wool cleaning pads, being an article of manufacture consisting of a body wrapped with steel wool which provides a flexible and yielding foundation, a binder and reinforcing for the soap, and an absorbent for the water used in cleaning.

This invention combines cotton and soap with steel wool in a manner to form a practical cleaner; a pad in which the steel wool is a separate element from the cotton, does not rust in the package after manufacture or on the shelf after having been in service, and a pad in which the soap and steel wool are separated and not permitted to mix in service in use with water.

Steel wool as a manufactured product is cut in the presence of oil, and as a commercial product the fibers are protected from rusting by a film of oil. One of the objects of my invention is to retain undisturbed this oil film on the steel wool fibers in a new manufactured pad so as to prevent rusting of the article in the package, in storage, or in transit, and under varying atmospheric conditions encountered, until used. Thus my device is distinguished from those using steel wool treated with soap inthe process of manufacture, leaving no protective oil film on the steel wool. In this invention I use ribbon steelwool as a commercial product.

Another object of my invention is to maintain soap and steel wool as separated elements in a cleaning pad, and I accomplish this by using cotton as a reinforcing and binder for the soap. Steel wool functions best as an abrasive cleaner when the fibers are free to flex. Soap if immediately combined with steel wool and permitted to dry and harden, binds the steel wool fibers and forms a hard inflexible mass, requiring the mass to be soaked in water to restore its usefulness, causing inconvenience. These undesirable results are intensified when steel wool and cotton fibers are mixed and the wholemass permeated with soap. as described in Brooks Patent 1,682,104. Also, in pads in service, which have soap surrounded by steel wool as described by Fields in Patent 1,682,117, and in which no means have been provided to prevent the soap from breaking up or mixing with the steel wool as it softens in use with water; the whole pad is too rigid and the soap will break up in use. In service, cotton fibers saturated with soap permit only a lather to escape into the steel wool. I find that spun fibers, fabrics, and sponges when treated with soap in solution, upon congealing, have retained more or less free soap not completely combined and free to escape as particles.

Therefore they are not the equivalent of cotton to bind soap completely as required in my device.

A further object of my invention is to use cotton as a means to maintain the bulk of the pad and give support to the steel wool as the soap wastes away in service, and to function as an absorbent for the water necessary in the work of cleaning. Steel wool without a cushion body for support breaks up, crushes together, and is quickly reduced to a useless mass. Thus, cotton, as used in my device, is an ideal material to .attain several new and useful results in a steel wool cleaning pad; namely,--to bind and reinforce soap, to absorb water used in cleaning, to cushion and support the steel wool, and to provide a flexible and yielding foundation for the soap, allowing the pad to conform to articles being cleaned.

In a. steel wool cleaner, rusting is an intolerable condition, particularly in a pad which rusts at the center and secretes rust in service. In my device I overcome this objection in steel wool cleaners by using steel wool uncombined with other elements as an outside wrapping over a non-ferrous body. The wrappingbeing fully exposed to the air, quickly dries without rusting, while the center body is a materialincapable of rusting. As a result, my device is substantially as free from rusting as steel wool is alone, it does not depend entirely upon soap as a protection to the steel wool, and it continues to render service without undue rusting after all the soap is consumed.

Referring to the drawing:

'Fig. 1 shows a section view of my invention.

Fig. 2 shows a perspective view of complete invention.

The same letters refer to the same parts in the two views.

Referring to the drawing in detail, Fig. 1, (A) is a section through a cotton pad impregnated with soap having a layer of ribbon steel wool (C) wound around the cotton pad in one direction and a layer (B) wound at right angles to 100 layer (C). Fig. 2 is a perspective view, showing layer (C) exposed on the ends only and the outside layer (B) binding the whole into a substantial unit.

In the manufacture of my invention the soap 105 and cotton are combined by dipping the cotton in batt form into hot melted soap. It is then removed, is allowed to congeal, and then cut into pieces of proper size, wrapped with ribbon steel wool as shown in the drawing, and finally allowed 110 to cure for a time in open air before boxing and packing.

In the manufacture of cotton impregnated with soap, the soap must be converted into a liquid by the addition of water and the application of heat. The mixture must be agitated and boiled, because soap and water naturally separate if quiet, the water sinking to the bottom, and the soap separating into strata according to its varying specific gravity. Cotton fibers have the inherent quality of absorbing this soap and water solution uniformly throughout a thick pad without separation of the soap and water which results in a homogeneous mass of cotton and soap; whereas jute, hemp, wood fibers, sponges, and spun fibers or fabrics permit the water to penetrate deeper into the mass than the soap, causing this separation of soap and water and resulting in the sealing of residual moisture at the center as the soap congeals and cures. This residual moisture attacks the steel wool in new manufactured pads, particularly in the package. For these reasons such materials are not the full equivalent of cotton in my device to attain all the objects of my invention and to prevent rusting of the pad.

Having described my invention I claim:

1. A manufactured cleaning article, consisting of a pad of cotton fibers impregnated with soap and surrounded with steel wool only. a

2. A cleaning pad, consisting of a homogeneous mass of soap impregnated cotton fibers formed into a pad and wrapped with ribbon steel wool unimpregnated with soap and in layers crossing at right angles.

3. A cleaning article, consisting of a pad of cotton fibers impregnated with soap and formed into a homogeneous mass and wrapped with steel wool only, said cotton fibers providing a flexible and yielding foundation, a binder and reinforcing for the soap, a cushion for the steel wool, and an absorbent of liquids used in cleaning.

GERTRUDE M. RICKE'I'IS. 

